He said the bodies in the mass graves were in an state of advanced decomposition.

"Most of the bodies were of young men, some in military uniforms, along with a few women and children," he said.

More then half of Kinama's 50,000 population have returned to their homes since the army announced that it had forced the rebels from the poor Hutu suburb.

Earlier this month, Burundian officials said they had found 40 bodies in Kinama bringing the known death toll from the rebel assault on the city to at least 134.

The official said although people were returning to their homes there was not enough drinking water for all of them.

Local administration officials said the people were now facing a new danger -- cholera.

"Every day we have two or three new cases of cholera among people brought to the hospitals," one official said.

An administrative source said around 20,000 civilians had been displaced in the past week by military activities in Gasarara, Mbau and Nyambuye communes on the hills near
Bujumbura.

An estimated 200,000 people have died in the tiny central African country's seven-year civil war, which broadly pits rebels of the ethnic Hutu majority against an army and
government that are dominated by the minority Tutsis.